What is Betrayal?
by Iverinde
Summary: What would LWW have been like if Edmund hadn't met the White Witch the first time he went into Narnia?
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia._

**Post Date: 9-6-09**

**AN: This is my first fic. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to wait until I had a few one-shots under my belt before attempting a multi-chapter story. As you can see, I decided to just go for it and write a multi-chapter story first. With that being said, please bear with me if this story is a bit rocky. Hopefully I will gain confidence and experience as I continue and my writing will get better.**

**Thank you to those of you who are willing to give my writing a chance. I hope you like the story; even if you don't, please review and tell me what doesn't work and what I'm doing wrong. If you like it, please let me know, but you don't have to. I won't beg for reviews. Okay, I'll end this here and get on with the story…**

"Speech"

Thoughts

_Chapter One_

"Fifty-four, fifty-five, fifty-six…" came a young female voice.

The voice belonged to a girl named Susan Pevensie. It was a gray, rainy day, and she was currently playing a game of hide and seek with her three siblings: Peter- the oldest of the four, Lucy- the youngest, and Edmund- who was about a year older than Lucy and two years younger than Susan. Their mother's name was Helen, but she will not enter our story much, for it takes place during the air raids of World War II. Fearing for her children's safety, Helen Pevensie had sent them to the house of a professor who lived in the country. This house, or more precisely, something that was in this house, was what gives us our story.

To better understand what happened during this game of hide and seek, we must go back to the last rainy day Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy had spent at the Professor's house. As it was only their first day at there, they decided to explore, for the house was simply enormous. Many of the rooms they ventured into held nothing remarkable, and the one that is so crucial to our story seemed no different. It held a wardrobe. The only other thing besides that was a dead blue-bottle on the window-sill. Upon declaring that there was nothing of interest in the room, Peter led Susan and Edmund out.

Lucy, unbeknownst to the others, stayed behind and entered the wardrobe. Seconds later, she burst out of it and flew through the door to the wardrobe room. Lucy told her brothers and sister that she had been in a magical wood called Narnia in the wardrobe for hours, and had had tea with a faun named Mr. Tumnus, and that all sorts of things had happened. None of them believed her; Edmund even teased her about it. She was miserable for the next few days. They were bright and sunny, filled with all sorts of things like swimming and fishing and whatnot. Lucy, however, could not properly enjoy any of it.

So this went on until the next rainy day, the day of the hide and seek game that starts our story.

As Susan counted to one hundred, Lucy ran to the wardrobe room. She did not mean to hide in the wardrobe, as that would cause the others to talk about the unpleasant incident again. All she intended to do was to make certain that the land in the wardrobe had not been a dream after all, for even she was beginning to wonder this.

As she touched the handle of the wardrobe door to open it, she heard footsteps in the passage outside, and, thinking they were Susan's, had no choice but to jump into the wardrobe and hold the door closed behind her.

Those steps, though, had been Edmund's. He came into the room just in time to see Lucy vanish into the wardrobe, and lost no time clambering in after her so he might tease her some more about her imaginary country. He could not see Lucy, so he felt around the wardrobe, thinking she had cleverly concealed herself behind the coats. As Edmund continued pushing through the coats, the air around him seemed to grow colder.

_That's strange,_ he thought. _Why would it suddenly feel cold inside a wardrobe? Unless…_ His heart sank as he emerged into a bright winter clearing. Lucy's country in the wardrobe was real after all. He looked about himself and saw a set of footprints leading off into the woods.

"Lucy!" Edmund cried, not wanting to admit he had been wrong, but not wanting to be alone in the snowy wood. "Lucy! I'm here too- Edmund!" Upon receiving no response, Edmund decided to follow the footprints, hoping that they were, in fact, Lucy's. He continued calling out to Lucy, as he walked. "I say Lu! I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I see now you were right all along. Do come out. Make it- oomph!"

"Edmund!" Lucy exclaimed, barreling into him and wrapping her arms around his waist. She looked up at him, smiling broadly.

"Lucy, I'm-," Edmund began.

"Oh Edmund, I'm so glad you're here too!" Lucy interrupted. "I would have waited for you if I had known you had gotten in! Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" She paused for breath, still grinning excitedly.

"I'm sorry for not believing you, Lu. And a good bit more for teasing you about it," Edmund said. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Lucy turned around and bent down. She put her arms behind her back as she straightened up.

"I don't know, Ed," Lucy replied. She then threw a snowball at Edmund's face. "But that might be a start!" Edmund gave a yell, and the two began a snowball fight. Edmund let Lucy hit him most of the time as a sort of apology for being so beastly to her over the past few days. They didn't notice that someone was approaching through the trees.

"Daughter of Eve!" came a cry. Lucy turned. "Lucy- why have you come back?"

"I- I had to know whether you and the whole of Narnia were a dream or not," Lucy said to the man- or Faun, Edmund supposed, seeing as from the waist down the speaker looked like a goat. '_This must be Mr. What's-his-name, that faun Lucy said she had tea with the first time she came here,_' Edmund thought.

"But you know how dangerous it is for you to be here-," the faun paused, looking at Edmund. "And now you have brought a Son of Adam too! If the White Witch finds out you are here, she will have both of you killed!"

"Please Mr. Tumnus," Lucy said. "I missed you and wanted to make sure you were all right." Mr. Tumnus (for that was the faun's name) sighed worriedly.

"Very well," he relented. "Who is this Son of Adam?"

"My brother, Edmund," Lucy told him. Mr. Tumnus smiled anxiously at Edmund and nodded.

"You have your sister's nose," Mr. Tumnus said kindly. "It-"

He broke off suddenly. A rustling, jingling noise could be heard in the distance. Mr. Tumnus looked positively horrified.

"It's she!" he cried. "Quick, quick! Get yourselves back to Spare Oom!" Edmund looked puzzled at this.

"That's what he calls England! Come, we must hurry!" Lucy said. She grabbed Edmund's hand and began running. They ran back the way Lucy's footprints led, and soon they arrived back at the wardrobe. They barreled through it and tumbled out onto the floor. Lucy looked up at Edmund and began bawling.

"Lu! Are you alright?" he asked. She wrapped her arms around him and spoke into his shoulder.

"Oh, Edmund, if it _was_ the Witch, she has probably arrested him, or done something terrible to him!" Lucy cried. She sat back and buried her face in her hands. Edmund offered her his handkerchief to wipe her eyes. Lucy accepted it gratefully. "Thank you Edmund. I gave mine to Mr. Tumnus…" She trailed off, tears building in her eyes again.

"Don't worry, Lucy. I'm sure he'll be alright," Edmund murmured comfortingly. He hugged her as she shook with renewed weeping.

As she sobbed, Edmund thought about how he could explain this to Peter and Susan. He could always pretend that he had been teasing her again, but looking down at his already miserable younger sister, Edmund didn't want to cause her more sadness.

_I guess I'll have to tell them that Lucy was is right,_ Edmund thought. _That there _is_ a wood in the wardrobe. Though they might think I've gone crazy too, then…_

Just then the door opened. Peter and Susan burst into the room. Peter saw that Lucy was crying and looked at Edmund angrily, seeming not to notice that he was comforting her.

"What did you do now, Edmund?" Peter snapped. "Haven't you bothered Lucy enough the past few days?" Edmund opened his mouth to deliver an indignant reply, but Lucy beat him to it.

"Leave Ed alone!" Lucy said, gulping and trying to hold back her tears. "I'm not crying because Edmund was bothering me!" She wiped her eyes with the handkerchief. Peter frowned disbelievingly.

"Well, if Edmund didn't make you cry, then who did?" Peter asked.

"Mr. Tumnus, the faun I was telling you about," Lucy said. She faltered, tears again coming to her eyes. "I think he's in danger."

"And how would you know this, Lucy?" Susan said.

"Because I went back," Lucy said, wiping her eyes again. "And this time, Edmund went too!" She looked expectantly at Edmund. Peter and Susan looked at him too.

"Well, Ed," Peter said. "Is this true?"

**I think I'm going to end Chapter One here. A couple places didn't flow as nicely as I wanted them to, but I did as well as I could…**

**Anyway, please review! Even if it's a flame!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: No tengo los derechos de autor de la Chronicles de Narnia._

**Post Date:**** 3-17-10**

**Thank you to the 5 people who reviewed Chapter One. Your reviews were very much appreciated. I'm not even going to try to apologize for the months-long gap between these two chapters. Please don't maim me though. Or track down the White Witch's wand and turn me to stone with it- one: you definitely won't get any more chapters, and two: I don't really fancy having either of those things happen to me. Or anything akin to them… uh, yeah.**

**Okay, a little note about the last chapter: I don't know if anyone noticed, but I used the hide-and-seek game for the second entrance into Narnia. That's how C. S. Lewis had it in the books. I'll be doing this mostly bookverse, but I might throw in bits of dialogue and perhaps scenes from the movie that I like. Kudos to anyone who can catch a little snippet from the movie that I stuck in. Hint: it's something Mr. Tumnus says.**

**On with the story!**

_Chapter Two_

"I… uh, it's…" Edmund began, unsure of what to say. "Well, um… yes." Lucy let out a muffled squeal and hugged Edmund tightly. Peter and Susan's eyes narrowed.

"_Yes?_" Peter repeated incredulously. "Edmund, how can there be a land in the wardrobe? It's impossible!" He stared at Edmund and Lucy in disbelief. Susan looked like she had tasted something sour.

"You're just going along with Lucy to poke fun at her again, aren't you?" Susan snapped. "Ever since you started going to that new school, you've been nothing but a beast! You're always talking back to Peter and me and taunting Lucy about something or other- why should this be any different?" Edmund gaped at Susan in bafflement. He had expected Peter to be the one to blow up at him.

Quickly glancing at Lucy and Peter, Edmund saw he was not the only one who had been surprised by Susan's outburst. Peter was the first to find his voice.

"Su-,"

"And you, Peter! You've been trying to act like Dad ever since he went away to the war! Maybe that's part of the reason Ed's been acting so spiteful!" Susan paused to draw breath. Peter seized the opportunity to speak.

"Whoa, cool it, Su!" Peter said. "There's no need to-"

"You see? That's just what I mean!" Susan retaliated. "It's… I wish… It makes me so…" She screamed in frustration and promptly tore from the room, leaving her three siblings to gape openmouthed at the doorway. Peter whistled long and low.

"Well, that was unexpected," he remarked dryly. Motioning to Lucy and Edmund, Peter left the wardrobe room, presumably to try to find Susan. Edmund, who had felt different after his short excursion into the wardrobe, helped Lucy to her feet. She hugged him once again and thanked him for telling the truth before running after Peter and Susan.

Left standing alone in the room, Edmund contemplated what had just happened. His head seemed a bit clearer and his heart a bit lighter since his brief excursion into the wardrobe. Or maybe that was just his imagination. Perhaps the only reason he had told the truth and not made fun of Lucy was so that Peter and Susan would stop berating him. Fat lot of good that idea had done, though. Edmund shook his head and mentally slapped himself for being so nice to Lucy and entertaining such silly notions.

Sighing, Edmund trudged out into the hallway. A grain of curiosity trickled to the forefront of his mind. Just who was this "White Witch" that the faun- Tumnus?- had wailed about? From how scared Mr. Tumnus had seemed, Edmund thought she sounded like a menace.

"I wonder why the king or queen of Narnia does nothing to stop her," Edmund muttered to himself. "I swear, if I ever get back there, I'll find him or her, and make them see sense and put a stop to her." _If only to stop Lucy sniffling and weeping about the faun…_

Edmund rounded the corner that led the hallway which contained the door to the room that the Professor had set aside for the Pevensies' use. Stepping into the room, he noticed that Peter and Susan were absent. Lucy was curled up in a chair with a handkerchief, sniffling. She looked up when Edmund walked in.

"Oh, Edmund, thank-" Lucy began. Edmund, who had been feeling more and more disgruntled as he made his way back to the "playroom" suddenly sneered.

"Well, I hope you're happy now, Lucy," Edmund hissed. "I told the truth and didn't spite you and look what good that did me! Peter and Susan are even more upset with me than ever, and it's all your fault!"

**Okay, before people start reminding me that the White Witch IS the queen of Narnia, I must point out that while you, Lucy, and I know this, Edmund does not (yet). Mr. Tumnus never mentioned it; Lucy didn't either. Just clarifying that.**

**Another thing: someone thought last chapter that Edmund was too nice. I tried to rectify that in this chapter- make him more malicious again- but was it a little too drastic a change?**

**And also: SORRY for the long wait and such a short chapter! I'm a notorious procrastinator! I'll try to be quicker with Chapter Three!**

**Please review! But you don't have to…**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia._

**Post Date: 7-18-10**

**Okay—it's been four months (not as long as last time, but yes, still long). I was going to wait until Friday to post this; I don't think it's perfect, but after such a long wait I figured you guys deserved something. So I'm giving it to you now, but I will most likely revise it. If I do revise it, the revision will be posted either by Friday or with the next chapter, which I am optimistically planning to post/have ready by the end of August. We'll see how well that works out.**

**Thank you to my reviewers. I think I am right in believing that 15 reviews is a lot to have for a two (well, now three) chapter story with such long update gaps… so, thank you again! And don't feel compelled to review. I know as well as anybody that sometimes you just don't feel like it. I mean, reviews are nice and all, but, I repeat, I'm not going to beg for them.**

**Well, here you go:**

_Chapter Three_

Edmund turned on his heel and marched right back out of the room, leaving a shocked and teary-eyed Lucy behind. His mind clouded with anger and frustration, he stormed through the halls without really noticing where he was going.

"Why don't they believe me?" Edmund muttered. "I told the truth, and Lucy was happy; what more do they want?" Swinging his fist out in frustration, he had to bite back a grunt of pain when his hand connected with and shattered a glass case. As he hissed at the stinging pain in his hand, Edmund heard footsteps drawing near to where he was.

"What have we here?" It was not the cold, stern voice of Mrs. Macready that Edmund had been expecting- it was the kind and wise voice of the Professor.

"Ah…um…," Edmund stuttered. The Professor glanced down at his cut hand, his angry face, and the shattered case.

"Hmmm… I take it you were angry, young man?" the Professor said, his tone not giving anything away. "Come. I'll take you to my study to get that hand bandaged up, and then we'll have a little talk."

The Professor put his arm around Edmund's shoulder, gently, but firmly enough to prevent his running away. They walked in silence down the hall. When they reached to study, the Professor, still not speaking, reached down a small medical kit from a shelf and proceeded to wash and bandage Edmund's hand. Then the Professor spoke.

"Well, young man… care to tell me what the problem is? What got you so angry that you had to smash a glass case?"

"Peter and Susan don't believe anything I say!" Edmund said. "And they told me to be nice to Lucy, not to spite her any more, and to tell the truth!"

"And did you listen to them? Were you nicer to Lucy? Did you tell the truth?" the Professor questioned gently.

"Yes!" Edmund cried exasperatedly. "But they didn't believe me!"

"Why do you think that is?" the Professor said. Edmund became suddenly irate at the Professor's blasé tone.

"Because they're stuck up and think they're right all the time, about everything! They try to act like grownups ands boss me around all the time!" Edmund spat. "Peter and Susan are still children like me, what right do they have to act like they're so much older?"

"Ah, what do they teach them in school these days?" the Professor mused. Edmund looked at him in puzzled anger.

"What?"

"Logic, my boy! This whole situation, not just your current predicament, is very stressful; perhaps trying to act older and gain control of the situation is Peter and Susan's way of dealing with it," the Professor said.

"But-,"

"That does not make it right, of course," the Professor said. "Now, I have another question for you: are you usually mean, spiteful, and deceitful to your siblings?"

"Um… yes," Edmund acquiesced.

"Well then, why should it be any different this time?"

"Because it is!" Edmund retorted.

"Yes, but Peter and Susan do not know this! You have given them no indicator that you have changed, so they were forced to believe that you were acting the same: being spiteful and deceitful!" the Professor said. "Again, it was not completely right of them, but it is understandable." Edmund thought for a second.

"I guess that makes sense," he admitted. "But I'm still cross with them."

"Well, I can accept that, as long as you don't smash anymore glass cases, eh? And I'll just tell Mrs. Macready that I got a little clumsy—this time! You'll have to find your own way out of trouble if you smash another," the Professor said. "Now, run along! And continue being nice to your sister—maybe Peter and Susan will actually catch on that you _are_ being nice."

Once out of the room, Edmund let out a relieved sigh. He hadn't gotten in trouble, thank goodness. Maybe the Professor wasn't such a bad chap after all. Still a bit loony, though. _Just like his appearance_, Edmund thought. The night he and his siblings had arrived Edmund had had to keep pretending to sneeze and cough to cover up his laughter at how funny he thought the Professor looked.

Thinking about what the Professor said, about being nice to Lucy, Edmund scoffed. Stuck-up Susan and Peter wouldn't believe he wasn't lying until the truth was staring them in the faces.

"Well, that's another thing I'll have to do next time I'm in Narnia. They don't believe me? Then I'll show them Narnia exists, and take them to that Faun, Tumnus, to prove that I was there with Lucy." Edmund muttered. "They'll see. Just wait—I'll show them."

**So, I hope you can see why I want to revise it (or maybe I don't want you to see…). The revision will mostly be for word choice and sentence structure variety. I also might try to make it a bit longer—still ending and beginning in the same spots, but I think about 1,000 words is a good amount for a chapter. This is only 783. And again, I'll will try to get the next chapter out by the end of August, though I probably won't (darn procrastination). And the revision should be up pretty soon (Friday?).**


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